diff --git a/src/mac/carbon/dataobj.cpp b/src/mac/carbon/dataobj.cpp
index 64dc8053d0..cc6f7df020 100644
--- a/src/mac/carbon/dataobj.cpp
+++ b/src/mac/carbon/dataobj.cpp
@@ -206,7 +206,10 @@ bool wxFileDataObject::SetData(
 {
     m_filenames.Empty();
 
-    AddFile(wxString::FromAscii((char*)pBuf));
+    // only add if this is not an empty string
+    // we can therefore clear the list by just setting an empty string
+    if ( (*(char*)pBuf) != 0 )
+        AddFile(wxString::FromAscii((char*)pBuf));
 
     return TRUE;
 }
diff --git a/src/mac/carbon/dnd.cpp b/src/mac/carbon/dnd.cpp
index 5744c01f3d..37c444ed78 100644
--- a/src/mac/carbon/dnd.cpp
+++ b/src/mac/carbon/dnd.cpp
@@ -213,13 +213,13 @@ bool wxDropTarget::GetData()
                         {
                             HFSFlavor* theFile = (HFSFlavor*) theData ;
                             wxString name = wxMacFSSpec2MacFilename( &theFile->fileSpec ) ;
-                            if (  firstFileAdded )
-                                ((wxFileDataObject*)m_dataObject)->AddFile( name ) ;
-                            else
+                            if ( !firstFileAdded )
                             {
-                                ((wxFileDataObject*)m_dataObject)->SetData( 0 , name.c_str() ) ;
+                                // reset file list
+                                ((wxFileDataObject*)m_dataObject)->SetData( 0 , "" ) ;
                                 firstFileAdded = true ;    
                             }
+                            ((wxFileDataObject*)m_dataObject)->AddFile( name ) ;
                         }
                         else
                         {